Cinnamon and Sugar Apple Chips

April 23, 2012

Last week, my husband bought a bag of baked apple chips from Whole Foods. They tasted amazing and the ingredients seemed surprisingly simple. As this blog is all about simple foods, I had to make my own. I caution you that the baking time required for these chips is several hours. It’s not ideal, but it takes time to dry out the apple slices. Besides, it’s not all bad. You can set the timer and skip off to accomplish other things while these crisp up.

I used a cinnamon and sugar combo, but you could get creative with more exotic spices and flavorings. I bet a good coat of honey or a crust of parmesan would also be pretty tasty.

Then, slice each apple finely using a mandolin on a 4.5 mm setting. If you don’t have a mandolin, use a knife. Try to make the slices as even as possible.

Next, add the cinnamon and sugar to a shallow bowl and mix well.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip each apple slice into the cinnamon and sugar mixture, coating each side. Place on the parchment paper. After a minute or two, you’ll notice the apples starting to sweat. Sugar (much like salt) extracts moisture. In this case, that’s a good thing because you want the apples as dry as possible when they go into the oven.

Use a paper towel to blot the moisture from the apple slices. Flip each slice to blot the other side as well.

Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour then flip the slices over and bake for another hour. The slices should be crispy, but if they need more time, turn off the oven and leave the chips inside as the oven cools down.

These apple chips take a long time to crisp up, but be patient. Resist the urge to crank up the heat.

I’m on the HCG diet, and I don’t really have any yummy foods to eat when I feel like snacking. I just made a batch of these chips using cinnamon, at dash of nutmeg, and a little powdered Stevia on top. I just turned the oven off, and I’m letting them sit until they crisp. They’re still kind chewy, but tasty!